OITA (Kyodo) Two former elementary school teachers in Oita Prefecture were convicted Wednesday of bribing a senior board of education official to obtain their promotions to vice principal.
Yoichi Watanabe and Shinobu Hirose, both 50, received suspended eight-month sentences for each giving ¥500,000 worth of gift vouchers to the former senior official from last December to March.
Presiding Judge Takafumi Miyamoto of the Oita District Court said the two defendants seriously damaged public trust in the education system in the prefecture through the bribery.
E-stalker judge fired
The Diet's Judges Impeachment Court issued a ruling Wednesday dismissing Utsunomiya District Court Judge Yoshiharu Shimoyama, who was convicted of harassment for sending threatening e-mails to a female subordinate.
Shimoyama, 55, is the sixth judge ever dismissed.
Shimoyama sent a total of 16 messages to the woman's mobile phone that appeared to threaten her life.
He was given a prison term of six months in August, suspended for two years, for violating the law against stalking and harassment. He did not appeal.